Todd's Road Grace Church would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd Nybert. We are located at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at 9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.

Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert.

In Psalm 110, verse 3, we read these words. As the Lord enables you, listen carefully. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.

I've entitled this message, Willing. Psalm 110 is the most often quoted Old Testament scripture in the New Testament. Parts of this psalm are quoted 26 times in the New Testament. And how I love this verse. And if you have a King James Version, you would notice that the shall be is in italics. It was added there by the translators, but it's not in the original. It could be read like this, thy people willing in the day of thy power.

Now, the first thing I want us to consider is this statement, thy people. shall be willing in the day of thy power. I will be to them a God, God says, and they shall be to me a people.

In Matthew chapter one, verse 21, we read these words, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. It doesn't say he'll save everybody from their sins. It says he shall save his people from their sins. Not everyone is his people. Not everyone is saved from their sins. I shudder to say this, but there is a place called hell where people are suffering the just wrath of God against their sins. But he promises he'll save his people from their sins.

Who are his people? Well, he identifies them like this. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For this is the will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

Now, when were these people given to Christ? Ephesians 1 verse 4 says, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. His people are the elect, those the father gave him before time began. They're called his sheep.

John chapter 10, I am the good shepherd, verse 14, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. He didn't lay down his life for the goats. There are sheep and there are goats. He laid down his life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one foal and one shepherd.

His people are his sheep. We read in John 10, verse 24, Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not, because you are not of my sheep.

Sheep believe. He doesn't say, you're not my sheep because you don't believe. He said, you do not believe because you're not in my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. As a matter of fact, you can read in John chapter 17, seven times, he refers to those the father gave him. He said in verse 79, John 17, nine, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me, for they are thine." Now a man's a fool that chooses to close his eyes to that. God has a people. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. And this is really where we must begin. His people. Now what this lets us know is that salvation begins with Him. It's executed by Him. and it ends in him. Salvation is of the Lord.

In 2 Thessalonians 2.13, Paul said to the church at Thessalonica, we're bound to thank God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification and through the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.

Now, I want to ask you a question. Does this make you think God to be harsh? for not choosing everybody and for not saving everybody? Or does this make you think, I want to be one of his people? Well, I hope this is your response. I want to be one of his people. I want him to make me one of his people. I realize that if he passed me by and gave me what I deserved, he'd cut me off. But oh, how I want to be one of his people.

Now, the character of those described as his people is given in one word, thy people, willing in the day of thy power. Now, they were not this way when they were born into this world. They were unwilling. I think of what the Lord said in John chapter 5, verses 39 and 40, He said, you search the scriptures, in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me, and you will not come to me that you might have life. This describes every natural man. You will not come to me that you might have life. You see, the natural man's will is controlled by his sinful nature. That's why you will not come to me because your will is under the dominion of a sinful nature.

You know when people talk about free will, and it's almost a given with people. Sure we have a free will. Well, you do what you want to. I wouldn't deny that. But no, you don't have a free will. There's no such thing as free will. Your will is controlled by your nature. Even God doesn't have a free will. In this sense, God can't sin. He can't say, well, I'm going to choose to sin. He can't. It's against his nature. God can't lie. It's against his nature. God can't act contrary to any of his attributes. because it's against his nature. Free will is so false.

Do you realize that this is what Satan tempted Eve with in the Garden of Eden? If you eat that fruit, You'll know good and evil, and you'll be as God. You'll be as God. That'll make you like God. You see, right now, there's no choice involved in you being a good person. God made you that way. But if you eat this fruit, you'll know good and evil, and you'll choose the good over the evil, and that's what'll make you like God. He bit the hook. It might have sounded good, but it was wrong.

You see, if your will is free, you're saying your will is sovereign over God's will, that your will can trump God's will. It's a complete denial of who you are and your sinful nature to complete denial of who God is and his sovereign will in his absolute control. You don't understand. who I don't understand who I am if I believe in free will. I don't understand who God is if I believe in free will. I don't have any idea what the gospel is if I believe in free will. Free will is a denial of the gospel. You can't believe the gospel and believe free will. Listen to the scripture. John 1, 12, and 13. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe on his name, which were born, which were birthed, not of blood. You'll never be saved because your mom and dad were. Not of the will of the flesh, you're not born again because a bunch of people got together and said we're going to pray to God for them until they're born again. Not of the will of man, not as an act of your will or your decision, but of God. Paul said it's not of him that willeth. nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.

A belief in free will is to deny God's sovereign will and to make man's will to be able to trump God's will." Now that's irreverent, that's sacrilegious, that is blasphemous. Free will is behind all error. Free will is behind all self-righteousness and pride. It begins with an act of man's will.

Now, while these people called thy people were not willing by nature, they're now willing in the day of his power. And this is the result of being born again. being born of God. You have a new will that was not there before, the product of the new nature. I think of what the Lord said to his disciples, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak, powerless, impotent. Do you know a lost man doesn't have a spirit? He's got a soul, he's got a body, but he doesn't have a spirit. You see, the spirit died. In the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die. That's what died, the spiritual nature that is able to have communion with God.

But when God births a man and gives him a new birth, he now has a spiritual nature. And the Lord said with regard to that spiritual nature, the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Paul said, to will is present with me. a willing nature. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Now what is meant by that? Thy people shall be willing. What does it mean to be willing? Well, it's not a forced willingness. It is a willing submission.

Now, I've got a glass of water here. And if I'm thirsty, and you say, you take a drink of that water, I'll beat you to within an inch of your life. I'll forego drinking it. And I'll have a reason to forego drinking it, because I know what will happen to me if I do. And then if you say, drink that water, well, I'm not thirsty. Well, if you don't drink that water, you're going to lose a big reward. You'll get whatever reward it would be, $500,000, $1 million if you drink that water. I'm going to go ahead and drink it, even though I'm not thirsty, because I'm going to be rewarded for it. You see, that's human religion. It is based on fear of punishment and hope for reward. That is not the gospel. There's no willingness in that. God's people are willing people.

Now, this is a willing submission. This is what I want. This is what I love. Now, his people, first of all, are willing to believe all that the Bible says. The Bible is the word of God. 2 Timothy 3, 16 says all scripture. is given by inspiration of God. And you know I want it to be that way. It's that way whether I want it or not, but I want it to be that way because I'm not dependent upon man's opinions. We have the written word of God, this revelation of himself. If we don't have the word of God, what do we have? My opinion. We're in trouble if that's all we have. Oh, thank God for the revelation of scripture. And somebody says, do you expect me to believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God? Well, no, not really. You do what you want. But I know this, God created the universe from nothing. And if he can create the universe from nothing, What power is involved in that? He can inspire men to write a book and keep it preserved through the centuries. The Bible is the Word of God. Scripture came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

And by His grace, we are willing to believe everything it says, submit to everything it says, and agree with everything it says to this extent that we'll take sides with the Word of God against ourselves. We're willing, willing to believe all the Bible says. We're willing for God to be God.

Now God being God is not up for vote. He's God whether we are willing in this thing or not. He is God, but we're willing for God to be God. Let me give you some examples of that.

The Bible teaches that God is the God of predestination. Somebody says, do you believe in predestination? Of course I do. I'm a Christian. I believe the word of God. It's in the Word of God. It's God being God. That's what predestination is. It's God being God. There's no chance or luck out there. Everything happens according to His sovereign purpose. Election, God choosing a people before the world began, is nothing less than God being God. And I'm willing for God to be God. Whatever He does is right. I trust His character. Whatever He does is right and holy and altogether glorious.

Justification. You know, the Bible teaches that God justifies sinners. Somebody says, how can that be just? Well, he made a way for himself to be just and justify the ungodliness of the gospel. My sin that I deserve to be punished for, Christ was punished for and put it away. And that perfect life that he worked at is given to me so that God is just in justifying me. When he brings me into heaven, I'll deserve to be there because of what Christ did for me. Now, justification is God being God. It's God that justifies. Oh, I'm willing for that to be the case because I love Him and His way of doing things. I'm willing to be saved in a way where He gets all the glory and none goes to me.

Listen to this scripture from 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. For of Him are you in Christ Jesus. God did this. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now that's a complete salvation. Jesus Christ is my wisdom. Jesus Christ Himself is my righteousness. Jesus Christ Himself is my holiness. Jesus Christ Himself is my full and complete redemption. I've been redeemed by Him. I stand before God wise, righteous, holy, altogether redeemed. He did it all. He gets all the glory. And I love it that way for two reasons. Number one, because he deserves it. Number two, because if he doesn't get the glory, salvation must be in some degree up to me if I can get the glory in it, the credit for it. And that's not good news to me because I know if anything that's up to me, I won't be saved. I'm completely dependent upon him. I'm willing for him to have all the glory in salvation.

Now, are you saying that By saying that there's no free will, the will's not involved, you know what I'm saying? I'm not saying that at all. The will is involved, the new will that he gives. Listen to this scripture. Romans chapter 10, verse 10 says, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. Said in the previous verse, if thou shalt believe in thine heart, that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now, what's this mean, believing with the heart? Is that some kind of nebulous, ooey-gooey thing that you can't really put your finger on, but you believe in your heart? It doesn't mean that at all. By the heart, the scripture means the whole man, the understanding, the affections, and the will.

If I believe with my heart unto righteousness, with my understanding, I believe and understand that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is the only righteousness I have. Understand that. Not only do I understand that, I love that. I love Jesus Christ, His person being my righteousness before God that I complete in Him. Not only do I love that, The will is involved. This is what I want. This is what I desire. I don't want to have anything to do with my own righteousness. Just like Paul said in Philippians chapter three, verse nine, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, which is according to my works of personal obedience, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith.

Is that in your heart? With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation." Now, I'm willing for Christ to be all in salvation. Colossians 3.11 says, Christ is all. He's all the God. He's all in the Bible. He's all in my salvation. I don't have anything else. All I have is Christ. I'm willing for that to be the case. I am willing for this to be the case.

In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Oh, how I love that. The person of Christ, all the fullness of God, every attribute of God resides in the body of the man Christ Jesus, the God-man. And then the next verse is, and you are complete in him. You are lacking nothing in him. You know, as far as the way I feel, I always feel inadequate, lacking, but God's word tells me in Christ, I lack nothing. I am full. Jude 24 says, now in him that's able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Oh, I'm willing for that to be. As he is, so are we in this world. 1 John 4, 17. Oh, how I'm willing for that to be.

Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Are you willing? Are you willing to be saved in God's way, on God's terms, according to how the Bible speaks? Yes, I am. Thy people, there's a people he calls his people, thy people, willing when in the day of thy power. Now, this is the day of his omnipotent, invincible, irresistible grace. Now, what power it takes to call somebody to be willing. I can't make you willing. You can't make me, Willie. Only God can make someone willing, willingly. Not to where they're a forced submission because of a fear of what'll take place or because of you think some kind of reward you'll earn by doing that. There's no grace in that. That's not the gospel. That's false religion. But God can make somebody willing. You've heard that saying, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. Well, that's true, but God can. God makes his people willing in the day of his power. This is not forced submission, but a joyous and willing submission.

Now, what I'd like to do is close by reading a passage out of Mark 10, verse 46, so we can learn something about this willingness. Verse 46, and they came to Jericho. And as he went out of Jericho, and the Lord's on his way to the cross at this time, scripture says he set his face like a flint. He's on his way to the cross. There's a crowd around him. Everybody's crying out his name, Hosanna, Hosanna.

And they came to Jericho, and as they went out of Jericho on the way to Jerusalem with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging. Now this man was stone blind and he was a beggar. He was the son of Timaeus. Timaeus comes out of the Hebrew word which means unclean, defiled, polluted. That was Bartimaeus. He knew that to be the truth concerning himself.

But I know this about Bartimaeus, somehow in the past he heard of Christ. Perhaps he'd been taken into the temple and he heard that the Messiah would give sight to those that are born blind. He said, that's the Messiah. One day he heard about a man named Jesus of Nazareth who gave sight to the blind. He said, that's the Messiah of the scriptures. Oh, if he ever comes by this way, I'm going to cry out to him for mercy. Well, he did come by that way.

Verse 47, and when he'd heard, he's sitting there begging, when he heard that Jesus of Nazareth, it was Jesus of Nazareth that passed by, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And then he charged him that he should hold his peace. Shut up, Bartimaeus. And he cried, the more the great deal. Thou son of David, have mercy on me. If you need mercy, nothing is going to stop you from asking.

And Jesus stood still. He always responds to the cry for mercy. And Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he casting away his garments. There's typical significance to that. That garment, filthy garment that covered him, he got rid of it. He cast away his garment, he cast away his righteousness, and came to Jesus, and Jesus answered and said unto him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? Is that what salvation is, what he does? Not what you do, what he does. What shall I do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

And Jesus said unto him, go thy way. You're set free. Go your way. Do what you want to do. Do what you will to do. Go your way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus in the way. That was now his way that he willingly did. He followed Jesus in the way. That's what he wanted to do.

Now, here's the believer's rule of life. Trust Christ and do what you want to. Now, I realize some people will say, well, you're saying, if you want to sin, go ahead and sin. No, I'm not saying that at all. But I am saying this, trust Christ and do what you want to. Because if Christ has made himself known to you, what you want to do is follow him. And this following him is not so much imitating him, although we want to do that, but it means you look to him. If you look down at your feet, you lose him. If you look to the side at somebody else, you lose him. If you look behind you to find some kind of evidence that you're safe, you lose him. You keep your eyes only on him. He followed Jesus in the way that's what he wanted to do, willingly.

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